Georges Méliès, one of cinema’s earliest pioneers, was the first to realize that the movie camera could make objects appear and disappear more easily than any stage trick. When he began making films, he quickly moved from “vanishing woman” or “appearing skeleton” shorts to cinematic marvels that no stage magician could replicate. It's a lesson worth remembering when approaching fiction films about magicians — as opposed to those dealing in supernatural magic. The camera's “real” magic must be dialed back to give theatrical illusion a chance to resonate. That’s the core failure of the Now You See Me franchise.
It’s been nine years since Now You See Me 2, so a refresher is in order. The films follow a group of magicians who call themselves “The Four Horsemen.” They use their stage skills to pull off elaborate heists targeting corrupt and powerful elites — a blend of Ocean’s Eleven-style capers and sleight-of-hand that borders on superpowers. The plots are crammed with events, twist reveals and attempts at elegant spectacle. The problem, particularly in Now You See Me 3, is that the sophistication is often just smoke and mirrors — empty and frustrating.
‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ - Trailer
(Credit: Courtesy of United King Films)
The series’ signature move is to explain the “magic” after the fact. But the franchise constantly abandons plausibility. The presumed “wow” factor always trumps believability — not just in the tricks, but in character behavior, with shifts in motivation that feel retroactively scripted decades in advance.
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Jesse Eisenberg, from ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’
(Photo: Courtesy of United King Films)
The leader of the group is J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), a high-strung, arrogant strategist. He’s joined by laid-back mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), nimble pickpocket Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). In the first film (2013), they help FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) seek revenge on magician Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), whom Rhodes blames for his father’s death. Rhodes is revealed to be a magician himself and a member of a secret society called “The Eye.” Bradley is imprisoned, and the Horsemen steal from their sponsor Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) — another of Rhodes’ targets — in one of many implausible plot turns.
In Now You See Me 2, Henley was replaced by the mischievous Lula May (Lizzy Caplan), and the villain was a tech billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who turns out to be Tressler’s son. Bradley, the previous antagonist, is suddenly rebranded as a mentor in the final minutes. Just like the tricks, the plots collapse under scrutiny.
Now, Now You See Me 3 attempts to revive the franchise. The goal: reset the series and introduce a new generation of Horsemen while bringing back familiar faces. We meet three aspiring magicians: Charlie (Justice Smith), the brains; Bosco (Dominic Sessa), an impressionist; and June (Ariana Greenblatt), a pickpocket. Their debut stunt involves bankrupting a corrupt crypto bro using illusions that illegally impersonate the original Horsemen.
So where is the original crew? They’ve disbanded after a botched mission left Dylan Rhodes imprisoned in a Russian jail. Strangely, despite their abilities, they didn’t manage a jailbreak — perhaps because Mark Ruffalo was busy saving the world elsewhere. Eventually, the old team reassembles into a kind of “Magnificent Seven” of magicians. Jack returns solo, having broken up with Lula, and Henley reappears after years away — now with kids and degrees, though neither is given much relevance in the story.
This time, the antagonist is Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), the ruthless heiress of a South African diamond empire. She’s linked to laundering drug and terror funds and boasts possession of a baby-head-sized blood diamond worth $500 million. Alongside the showdown with Vanderberg is a mysterious figure threatening to expose dark family secrets — unfolding through plot turns so far-fetched they play like failed tricks themselves.
Director Ruben Fleischer (Venom) takes over from Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) and Jon M. Chu (Now You See Me 2), having previously worked with Eisenberg and Harrelson on the Zombieland films. As in prior installments, the film promises much and delivers little, but this time, the screenplay (credited to Michael Lesslie, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Seth Grahame-Smith) feels sloppier and more derivative, borrowing from Inception, Mission: Impossible and others.
Now You See Me 3 tries to reignite a dormant franchise, but offers even less justification than its predecessors. The tricks are hollow, the twists overcooked and the magic long gone.